Afro Highlife Superstar And Icon, Orlando Julius Passes On At 79
Orlando spoke about how he would burst into club houses and hear his music lines appearing in records made by white musicians and their works being played in clubs and entertainment houses
Orlando Julius Ekemode; So Humble to the last
Veteran Highlife Musician, Julius Olusanya Aremu Ekemode (aka Orlando Julius) is dead. The Afro music icon passed on on Easter Friday at the age of 79.
The news of Orlando’s death was broken by ace music promoter and Evrgrenn music dig-out personality and the managing director of Evergreen Music, Bimbo Esho who claimed a call from Orlando’s heartthrob, Lady Latoya Ekemode-Orlando Julius, who
Ekemode was a born star whose dexterity in music production and innate musical wizardry both on the field of play and off the field for years had been underutilized due to the Nigerian factors in the continued regional undermining by the federal factor in the Nigerian governmental affairs.
Orlando Julius was a leading World Saxophonist, stage performer, singer, bandleader, and a songwriter of note who rooted his Afrobeat in his native Yoruba culture, a culture he lived with till his last day.
He was one of the originators of the African-owned afrobeat music, commencing his career almost the same time as the king of Afrobeat himself, Fela Anikulapo-Kutijoined. They both rose into prominence in the late sixties and had. put Afro music on the World map before Orland exited and lect Nigeria for the United States.
His heartthrob, Layoya early on the good Friday morning confirmed to Bimbo Esho that he peacefully slept off on Thursday night.
Until a few years ago, Papa Orlando had been a regular feature on social media, carrying along with his long-established fame with thousands of fans following him on his threads. His love of life, Latoya powered Facebook fans with engagements in-jokes and in the historical background of his many years of starting his career back home in Nigeria.
Latoya until the end was Orlando’s powerhouse, both in social support and on social media, promoting his husband’s old history, Yoruba culture, and Orlandos’ talent and looking after his welfare. It however emerged recently that his health was failing with emerging problems.
In one of his moving interviews, he told his teeming fans how when he arrived in the United States, his works were exploited by many music companies who never contacted him but were using his works to boost their own musical works. Orlando spoke about how he would burst into clubhouses and hear his music lines appearing in records made by white musicians and their works being played in clubs and entertainment houses with no commission for him and even with no contacts. He was an awesome personality, frank in talking, exemplary in humility, and a jovial personality to the chore.
Orlando Julius was a native of Ijebu Ijesha, the same town in Ijesha land where Juju maestro, Isaac Kehinde Dairo came from.
Bimbo Esho described Orlando’s as one of Nigeria’s fathers of Afro/Highlife Music saying he was a gentleman and a fine Saxophonist.
“May daddy Orlando Julius’ soul journey well, and to the entire Ekemode family may God give you the fortitude to bear this irreplaceable loss,” Bimbo wrote.
Jazz music ace, Tee Mac, celebrating Orlando Julius on his Facebook page reminded fans of Orlando’s past tracing his history to his collaboration with African Saxophonist and Afron beat superstar, Manu Dibango.
He said Orlando’s passing into the next dimension came unexpectedly tracing his musical history to the time he was with Manu Dibango the most successful Saxophone player in Africa.
“He performed and wrote lyrics even for James Brown. When you check google you will see the amount of High Life and Afrobeat Albums he recorded. Nigeria has lost a giant.
He described the passing musical giant as a quiet superstar who did not need and neither did he want the publicity most young artists crave for.
He concluded “May he continue to play his Saxophone in the next dimension with all his colleagues who are there to receive him.
Ac entertainment Editor and Managing Director of BEATS Infotainment, Pastor Ladi Ayodeji described Orlando Julius as a colossus whose gap in the entertainment industry would be so long to feel. Pastor Ayodeji wished the family the fortitude to bear the loss.
